1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated circuit (IC) device, chip, and method of fabricating the same; in particularly to an integrated circuit device and an IC chip with bonding pad structures at side, and method of fabricating the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Bonding pads are essential elements of bonding the integrated circuit (IC) chips with package substrates. The conventional bonding pads are formed on a front surface of the substrate. In general, the bonding pads are formed while the upmost metal layer of interconnects are formed. In addition, after the bonding pads are formed and before the packaging process is performed, the substrate will be covered by a passivation layer so as to resist the moisture. Accordingly, the passivation layer will be removed afterwards to form bonding pad openings, and the bonding pads are then exposed.
However, since the conventional bonding pads are formed in an region within a die seal ring region on the front surface of the substrate and occupy a larger space, so that the package structure is oversized. The trend of pursuing slightness, thinness, shortness, and small volume is not then followed.
On the other hand, given that the bonding pad openings are formed, and other elements, for example, color filters and micro lenses of a CMOS image sensor (CIS) are then constructed on the substrate, the bonding pads will be corroded by a developer and result in the formation of pittings during the process of constructing the elements, so that the function of the bonding pads is affected. Furthermore, the formation of the bonding pad openings may also bring about an uneven coating of a photoresist layer in the successive process of patterning filters, impairing the optical characteristics.